[Poitings]

I had my computer built in early 2015 and bought Windows 7 because I hated Win 8. When Windows 10 came out in July 2015 I took advantage of the free upgrade from Windows 7 to Windows 10 that Microsoft offered.

Now I need to format my hard drive and reinstall windows.

When I do that I will be using my licence for Windows 7 that I initially paid for online with Microsoft.

So my question is, will they have some record on my Microsoft account that I upgraded to Windows 10 in the one year grace period and allow me to upgrade again when I reinstall after a format?
And, should I download windows 7 then try to upgrade to Windows 10 or should I just download Windows 10 and expect Microsoft to know I have a right to use it?

[Poitings]

Just been on the phone with Microsoft tech support and although the lady on the line said I would need to buy Windows 10 as the upgrade from Win 7 to Win 10 isn't repeated if you need to format and reinstall I found that hard to believe and after looking at my purchase history in my Microsoft account it indeed did have me listed as owning Windows 10 Home along with my product key.
Sometimes tech support just give their best guess rather than saying they don't know.

[Elky64]

Just been on the phone with Microsoft tech support and although the lady on the line said I would need to buy Windows 10 as the upgrade from Win 7 to Win 10 isn't repeated if you need to format and reinstall I found that hard to believe and after looking at my purchase history in my Microsoft account it indeed did have me listed as owning Windows 10 Home along with my product key.
Sometimes tech support just give their best guess rather than saying they don't know.

Should be able to just D/L the Windows 10 Disc Image (ISO file) using the Media Creation Tool (from Microsoft's web site), then follow the prompts to create your preferred installation media, or install w/o creating anything. Since you were already running Windows 10 it should automatically activate once installed, that info is kept online.